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Aurora Areli
I SMILED AS MY eyes scanned the letter Ron had just sent me. It asked if I wanted to return to the Burrow to go and pick up Harry with him and his brothers before the Quidditch World Cup.
Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon, was hooting cheerfully from inside Jupiter's cage. My own owl was off delivering a letter to Cedric, who told me that he would also be attending the Quidditch World Cup.
I quickly set Ron's letter down on my bed, stood up, and nearly sprinted downstairs to ask my parents for permission.
"Hey, watch out!" Atticus said moodily, after I almost ran into him.
"Sorry, Att!" I called over my shoulder.
"What's all that racket?" Mum asked, peering around a shelf of books. She was in our library, as per usual when she wasn't at work. She and my father had taken a few days off of their Auror jobs at the Ministry to go and watch the Quidditch World Cup as well, since the Ministry had given our whole family tickets.
"Nothing! I wasn't running at all!" I denied, shaking my head.
Mum raised an eyebrow at this, and crossed her arms. I smiled sheepishly.
"Er — sorry. Anyway . . . Ron just asked if I wanted to go with him and his family to the World Cup, and to go get Harry from his aunt and uncle's house. Can I go? Please?" I added hopefully.
"Yes, Rory, of course you can go," Mum laughed, clearly amused at my outburst. "You know we love the Weasleys — just be careful."
"I will!" I quickly agreed. "I'm gonna go tell Ron. Thank you!"
As soon as I got back to my room, I grabbed a piece of parchment and my quill and quickly wrote a reply to Ron's letter.
"Take this to Ron, Pig," I told the tiny owl. I had to hold him down with one hand (gently, of course) so that I could attach the letter to his leg, since he couldn't seem to keep still out of excitement. I had barely opened my window when the teacup-sized owl zoomed out of it, hooting merrily all the way.
After double-checking that I had everything packed safely in my trunk, I went down to the library to spend my last few hours at home in my favourite place. I must've ended up falling asleep there, because I had no memory of walking back upstairs to my bed, where I woke up. I chose not to question it.
Ron told me I could just show up at any time before five that day, so at four o'clock, I was standing beside the fireplace in the living room with my trunk, ready to Floo over to the Burrow.
"And you're sure you have everything?" Mum fussed, attempting to fix my mane of red hair which, unlike hers, had a mind of its own.
